Michael Matthews, black and white in centre, sprints in for his second stage win at this Tour de France.
Dan Martin slips on Tour de France in crosswinds
For the first time in the Tour de France since his crash over a week ago, Dan Martin has endured a torrid day.
The Irish climber found himself isolated in the crosswinds near the end of today’s stage 16; 165km from Le Puy-en-Velay to Romans sur Isere.
And when the field split and Martin was caught in the second group, he had no team support to speak of.
Most of the remaining seven QuickStep riders were far back the road nursing along green jersey Marcel Kittel.
The big German, with five stages already to his name on this race, got dropped on the opening climb.
And while he was only one minute back over that cat 3 climb just after the start, he failed to get back into the main group.
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Fellow sprinter Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) was as far back the road as Kittel, yet he could get back on.
However, despite having won stages with cat 3 ascents, like today, in the Tour before, Kittel lost time for the entire stage.
The trouble for Dan Martin was that Kittel had half the team with him, though it later emerged a number of the QuickStep riders have been ill.
And while Philippe Gilbert did not start today, it seems the illness in the team has not been limited to him.
The team was already weakened on stage 9 when Matteo Trentin was one of a number of riders to finish outside the time limit.
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And so when the crosswinds hit late in the stage Martin had only Jack Bauer and Gianluca Brambilla to call on; both of whom would be dropped by the group Martin was stranded in.
And while Team Sky looked vulnerable in the days before yesterday’s rest day, it was they who put the hammer down and split the reduced peloton with 15km remaining.
And when they did that, Dan Martin and another of the top 10 general classification men Louis Meintjes (UAE Emirates) were caught out.
They ended the stage 51 seconds down on the front group containing all of the other GC men, including yellow jersey Chris Froome.
Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing) once again showed he is going very well on this race, though a stage win eludes him as of yet.
He made the front group of just over 20 riders though was tailed off it in the last kilometre having worked for Greg Van Avermaet.
Dan Martin would finish 31st and has now been overtaken in the general classification by Mikel Landa (Team Sky) and Simon Yates (Orica-Scott).
The stage was won by Michael Matthews, his Team Sunweb outfit having played a blinder in keeping Kittel off the back once he was dropped.
Matthews finished off the job with a very narrow victory over Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo).
Stage 16: Le Puy-en-Velay - Romans sur Isere (165km)
1 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 3:38:15
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
3 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
4 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
5 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
6 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-Scott
7 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal
8 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal
9 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
10 Romain Hardy (Fra) Fortuneo - Vital Concept All same time
24 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing @17secs
31 Dan Martin (Irl) QuickStep Flooring @51 seconds
General Classification
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 68:18:36
2 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:18
3 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:23
4 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:29
5 Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky 0:01:17
6 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:02:02
7 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 0:02:03
8 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates 0:06:00
9 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:06:05
10 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:06:16
30 Nicolas Roche (IRL) BMC Racing 1:02:53
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